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Israel Escalates Airstrikes In Beirut & Southern Suburbs; 3 Former Memphis Officers Convicted Of Witness Tampering But Acquitted Of Most Serious Charges; Study Casts Doubts On Benefits Of Fluoride In Drinking Water. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired October 04, 2024 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[13:34:27]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're tracking some new developments in the Middle East as Israel continues to target Hezbollah and Lebanon. Israeli forces launching a deadly new barrage across the country today. The IDF saying it killed about 100 Hezbollah fighters in just the past 24 hours.

The strikes are part of a broader campaign to cripple the Iran-backed militia.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Today, Iran issuing several new threats. The country's supreme leader warning they will attack Israel again if necessary. While Iran's deputy commander says Israel's energy infrastructure could be hit in response to any new attacks on Iran.

[13:35:02]

CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is live for us from Tel Aviv.

So, Nic, what is the latest from Israel?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the latest from here is that, as you say, over the past 24 hours, 100 Hezbollah fighters have been killed at the border by the IDF. Over the past few days, since ground operations began this week, 250 were killed.

We know the defense minister has been at the border today saying that the IDF -- IDF operating in several villages inside of Lebanon, and that there are more attacks to come.

The IDF has also been spreading the number or increasing, rather, the number of villages that it is warning Lebanese civilians to leave in the southern part of Lebanon. That total now up to over 100 villagers. Those civilians have been warned to leave.

And a new warning from the IDF for medical personnel in the south of Lebanon, warning them about being used by Hezbollah to transport Hezbollah or their equipment. Because we know that the World Health Organization has said at least a

couple of dozen health officials have really been killed inside of Lebanon so far. So that's another warning that the IDF has issued inside Lebanon.

But the warnings, if you will, coming from the Iranian leadership, that they are ready to strike back at Israel if it strikes at them. And very precise wording from the deputy military commander, saying, look, we in Iran have a big country, essentially saying it's hard to damage our infrastructure.

But he said, in Israel, there are only three power-generating plants and a couple of oil refineries. He said, we can hit all of those at once.

This seems to be a very stark warning as Israel is poised to respond to Iran's attack here a couple of days ago. And that does point to the potential for serious escalation still.

CAMEROTA: OK, Nic Robertson, thank you for being on the ground for us there.

Well, back here, jurors reached a mixed verdict in the federal trial of three former Memphis police officers accused in the beating death of Tyre Nichols. We'll show you how Nichols' family is now reacting.

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[13:41:43]

SANCHEZ: Tyre Nichols' family says they are relieved after a judge ordered all three officers on trial for his death to be taken into custody.

The former Memphis police officers were convicted Thursday of witness tampering in connection to the death of Nichols back in January 2023. The 29-year-old died just steps away from his home as he was calling out for his mother.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz joins us now.

Shimon, prosecutors were unable to get a conviction on the most serious civil rights charges for two of the officers. Do they see that as a setback?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly, Boris, not the outcome that they wanted or expected here, right? I mean, this charge, the top count here on the civil rights had to do with Tyre Nichols' death.

And the responsibility basically at the hands of these office officers who are supposed to protect him. But they argued, instead, violated his civil rights in how they detained him, and how they treated him, and the fact that they didn't give him the level of care that he needed. So that jury decided that the prosecutors here, federal prosecutors in federal court did not meet their burden. And so they've acquitted these officers of the top count.

The top count where, if they we're convicted, they could -- potentially would have -- would have spent the rest of their life in a federal prison. But instead, what you now have is these officers still facing a substantial amount of prison time, but certainly not on the top count.

Today, this morning, the attorneys for the families are starting to react. Take a listen to what one of the attorneys said.

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BEN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR THE NICHOLS' FAMILY: His mother and father and their family are relieved to know that all the officers will be held accountable. They could face up to 20 years in prison.

And now we're going to be focused on the sentencing. We want the same thing to happen to those officers what would have happened if the roles were reversed and Tyre was being convicted of killing them and them conspiring to cover it up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And, Boris, there's also still a state case. The officers -- there's five officers actually involved in this. Two of them pleaded guilty to federal charges and we're cooperating here with prosecutors.

But there's still a state case where these officers are actually facing murder charges. That is set to go on trial at some point, perhaps at the end of the year.

So the families will have to sit through this and relive a lot of that horrific video and a lot of that testimony yet again, as they continue to seek accountability and justice for their son.

SANCHEZ: Shimon, has there been any reaction from the officers themselves or their attorneys?

PROKUPECZ: No, there's been no reaction from the officers or their attorney. I mean, obviously, they feel relieved in one sense.

But one of the things that the attorneys here did was, as I said, there were these two officers who we're involved in this and they pleaded guilty and they we're cooperating with the government in this case.

And what the defense attorneys here did for the other officers here was that they tried to paint a picture that actually those two officers were more responsible for what happened here.

And when you look at this verdict, perhaps that worked in this case. So they thought that that was going to be a key thing for them, the defense attorneys, to paint those officers as the ones responsible for it. And it seems to have worked here.

[13:45:05]

SANCHEZ: And the Department of Justice, Shimon, was conducting a separate review of the use of force at the Memphis Police Department. What's the update there?

PROKUPECZ: Yes. So that's very much still ongoing. And these investigations take a really, really long time.

And the Department of Justice could wait for the criminal investigations, the criminal cases to end before they take any kind of action because they don't want to obviously affect the jurors decision going forward.

So we could be looking to sometime next year before we hear the results of any of that investigation.

But I was on the ground, Boris, when this happened in the days after. And the community there certainly is playing a big role in that investigation.

They certainly have felt for a long time that their rights are being violated by these officers, by officers from the Memphis Police Department and also the unit.

Remember, these officers we're part of a plan-clothes unit called the Scorpion Unit and they would just drive around, really tried to stop crime. They were a very, very aggressive unit.

And that is something that's certainly the Department of Justice is looking into. The unit has been disbanded as a result of what happened here. And there have been some changes at the Memphis Police Department as a result of what happened here.

SANCHEZ: Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Now to some other headlines we're watching this hour.

The Los Angeles district attorney says his office will review new evidence in one of the most notorious murder cases in American history. Prosecutors are considering petitions from Lyle and Erik Menendez to vacate their convictions.

The brothers are serving a life sentence without parole for murdering their parents in 1989. They claim they acted in self-defense. And their attorney he says the new evidence includes a letter that Erik wrote that may corroborate his claims that he was sexually abused by his father.

The D.A. says he also believes the topic of sexual assault would've been treated with more sensitivity if their cases were tried today.

Also, the U.S. and South Korea have reached a new deal on sharing the cost of keeping American troops stationed in South Korea. The tentative agreement would last five years, boosting South Koreas contribution to $1.1 billion by 2026.

Both sides pushed to finalize the deal ahead of next month's U.S. elections. Now, back in 2019, President Trump demanded that Seoul pay up to $5 billion. About 28,000 American troops remain stationed in South Korea to deter threats from the North.

And a late-season heatwave continues to scorch the southwest and parts of California. Record-breaking temperatures hitting cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Phoenix seeing 10 straight days of record highs. And it's on track to extend that streak through next week. Las Vegas is also facing record heat with every day in October, so far, exceeding 100 degrees.

All right, still ahead, do we still need fluoride in drinking water? The new study with surprising findings.

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[13:52:51]

CAMEROTA: A major public health practice is facing new scrutiny. Fluoride in drinking water has been promoted for decades as a way to prevent cavities but new research is casting doubt on its effectiveness and raising concerns about potential health risks, especially for children.

SANCHEZ: And this is really eye-opening.

CNN's Meg Tirrell joins us now with the details.

Meg, walk us through the insight from this report.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So fluoride, of course, is a mineral that can be added to drinking water and it's known to produce to prevent tooth decay.

It was first started to be added to drinking water in the United States in 1945. Now it's in 63 percent of the U.S. population's drinking water as an additive -- as an added substance to try to give this public health benefit.

And it has been listed as one of the top-ten public health achievements of the 20th century. That's how important, sort of fundamental this has been as a public health intervention.

However, since 1975, most toothpastes have started to include fluoride. And so the Cochrane Collaboration, which is an independent group that does scientific reviews, it started to look at the evidence of before 1975 versus after 1975, what is the impact on tooth decay of fluoride in drinking water in communities.

And what they found is that the benefits seems to have decreased since fluoride became more widely available in other substances. In studies from before that period, they found that there was a

decrease of about one baby tooth of tooth decay as a result of fluoride in drinking water compared with after 1975, that benefit reduced to on average, about a quarter of a tooth reduction in tooth decay.

And so they are they're saying that it's important to take a look at what the situation is now and to start to weigh the benefits and potential risks of safety of adding fluoride to drinking water.

CAMEROTA: Meg, this is fascinating because people who were fluoride skeptics were generally seen as conspiracy theorists --

SANCHEZ: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- of some kind. So are there actual safety concerns with the fluoride in our water?

TIRRELL: Well, it's still really murky and so we have to be really careful at how we look at what the data actually show. And so right now, it seems to be characterized as questions.

[13:55:03]

There have been reports, including as recently as this summer from a federal agency, that raised a link between levels of fluoride in drinking water that were twice as high as what the national recommended level is and impacts to children's I.Q.s.

So there have also been questions of exposure for pregnant women and the result for their babies from having fluoride that are at levels that are higher than would be recommended.

So these are the things that federal agencies are taking getting closer looks at right now. Researchers are not saying, as a blanket, we should take fluoride out of the drinking water.

This is still something that most public health agencies recommend. But with this new evidence, they're saying, let's take a look.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the implications are murky. Hopefully, the water is not murky. We see what you did there.

Meg Tirrell, thank you so much.

Still ahead, Vice President Kamala Harris set to speak at any moment in Michigan. And she plans to keep up -- to meet up with a group that she'll need on Election Day if she hopes to win that swing-state. That story, next.

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